A Floating Nuclear Power Plant: Russia’s New "Ship" Heads Out to Murmansk for First Stop
On Monday, the floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov, left St. Petersburg for a long trip. The first stop is Murmansk, where the nuclear fuel will be loaded. The endpoint is the Chukchi port of Pevek, the northernmost city in Russia. The floating nuclear power plant will provide Chukotka with electricity and heat. In the meantime, the Akademik Lomonosov is headed for the Arctic Ocean.
Salima Zarif will tell us about the start of this big trip.
The first floating nuclear power plant, Akademik Lomonosov, departs from the Baltic S. It departs slowly, at walking speed, at the speed of Lomonosov, going from Kholmogory to Moscow. And this unhurried start is also the beginning of a long journey. The floating nuclear plant is towed to Murmansk, where the reactors will be fueled and delivered to the Pevek port, where it will become the northernmost nuclear power plant in the world. This nuclear power plant is mobile and can work anywhere in the world.
Vitaly Trutnev, Construction Director: "In Russia and all over the world there's an opportunity for the first time to transport a source of safe, ecological energy, peaceful atomic energy, which is especially important in the Far North where it's not possible to provide traditional energy sources without polluting the unique natural environment".
There's a captain's bridge, but there's no propellers, nor a rudder. The ship's power characteristics are more important than its seaworthiness. Academik Lomonosov's maximum electric capacity is 80 megawatts. It's able to illuminate and heat a city with a population of 100,000 people. Here in the command center is the control panel, where two nuclear reactors are monitored.
"Reduce power by 10%, the emergency system is being prepped. Right circulating pumps are being set to low speed".
All possible and impossible scenarios were worked out on land, an exact copy of the floating power plant's central control panel was built at Rosatom academy. Academik Lomonosov's corridors, stairs and decks represent five levels of protection and the largest is the ship's hull.
Sergey Borovikov, Manufacturing Representative: "Above us is about 10 feet of water. If you knock you can hear that there is space behind it, then there's the hull, and then water. According to calculations the current construction is guaranteed to withstand any collision".
The designers' calculations were tested in the Krylov Scientific Center's pool, where models of nuclear icebreakers are tested, with miniature ice fields and icebergs. This compartment was built to be a safe environment to, while at sea, transfer nuclear fuel from storage to the reactors, and conversely to unload spent nuclear fuel.
Alexander Kovalyov, Chief Engineer: "The average fuel consumption rate is about 3-3.5 years at the estimated load, therefore it will refuel itself three times during a period of 12 years".
A unique property is that Akademik Lomonosov doesn't require dock maintenance, it services itself. Routine maintenance must be done only once every 12 years.
Aleksey Vladimirov, Project Director: "Not just one plant but a minimum of two should be in optimal condition because every 12 years the floating blocks depart for a maintenance period, and in order to maintain uninterrupted energy supply of the region where it's stationed, a similar plant should be present to continue supplying power. And for this to be economically feasible the class must have at least seven units".
In Pevek, the floating power plant will replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant next year. And depending on the first results it will become clear how many more floating power stations Russia will need.
Salima Zarif, Dmitry Kodachenko, Eugeniy Kostin, Yury Smirnov, and and Galina Orlova. Vesti, News of the Week.